


Unfair

by Mix Stitch (Synph)



Series: Wizardverse [16]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Implied Relationships, M/M, Multi, Slurs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-24
Updated: 2013-03-24
Packaged: 2017-12-23 18:11:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/929540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Synph/pseuds/Mix%20Stitch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tavares’ master and their shared lover come home far later than they had expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unfair

**Author's Note:**

> Contains: sex worker shaming, misogynistic slurs related to the previous warning, possessive behavior
> 
> Notes: This takes place a few hours after _At first sniff_.

The sign in the window says “Litarian and Lehane Magic Supplies”. Or rather, it would say that if the floating fairy lights in the window were turned on so the sign was visible from the street as something more than a dirty smudge in the window. 

The lights should be on…

Aries pauses with his hand on the handle of the door and turns back to where his business partner and apprentice is hanging back and finishing the last few puffs on his cigarette a few feet away.

“Do you think something happened to Tavares,” he wonders aloud as he stills and concentrates his energy in order to test the wards for any sign of tampering. “I know Miss Sasha said she was sending someone over to talk to me about changing their ward service. You don’t think they did anything—”

Mickey interrupts Aries with an obnoxious burst of laughter. “I know you don’t look for outside pleasure with Tav in the house and all, but if you’ve ever gone over to Sasha’s place, you’d know why that’s not possible.”

“It’s not?” Finding the wards locked up tight, Aries turns on his heel to look at Mickey. “I thought she had several demons working for her over there…”

“Yeah, but they’re the brothel standard: sex demons and their ilk,” Mickey says with a dismissive shrug. “They’re all weak enough that they need her to help them get their meals. Tav could take them with one hand tied behind his back.” He hand waves away Aries’ worry and then flicks his cigarette away. “He probably just fell asleep waiting for us to get home. You worry too much, Aries.”

Aries shrugs his broad shoulders and then pushes his fingers through the messy strands of his dirty blond hair.

“You’re probably right,” Aries says in a soft voice as he finally pushes open the store and feels the familiar strands of his magic reaching out to caress him. “I still don’t like to hear you talk like that though. Sasha’s workers aren’t weak because they need help hunting. You  _do_ remember that she takes in demons that humans frequently kill or keep in captivity by… Right?”

Mickey utters a noncommittal hum and starts to walk towards Aries and the front door of their store. The wind outside catches his ridiculously long hair and sends the vibrant red strands whipping towards Aries’ face before the jutting window of their little storefront cuts it off.

 “It’s not like anyone’s around to hear me,” Mickey says over his shoulder. “It’s not like Tav would actually keep one of Sasha’s little pets around longer than it took to get their information. He has us to feed from if the little sips from customers isn’t enough. One of Sasha’s little pets isn’t going to be able to feed him.”

Aries utters a soft laugh at that. It’s bitter and tinged with more than a fair amount of frustration, but it’s still a laugh.

“Don’t tell me that you’re already jealous,” he says once they’re both inside the dark store where the scent of old smoke from the candles still lingers in the air.

Aries locks the door with a flick of his fingers and a miniscule amount of magic. “Even if Tavares wanted to take one of Sasha’s workers to bed, that’s not something you need to worry about. He’s a grown man —demon— and he can take care of himself.”

Even in the dark room, Mickey’s embarrassment comes across as clear as can be. He kicks at one of the bolted down bookshelves and then huffs out a stream of swearwords under his breath.

“This isn’t right,” he says, complaining as though he’s a teenager again instead of a grown man and a wizard in his own right. “I just don’t think it’s safe for us to get involved with those people.”

Aries clucks his tongue at Mickey, not attempting to hide his disapproval and disappointment in the other man.

“There’s nothing wrong with us making sure that brothel workers are safe within their homes,” Aries says with a steely glint entering his gaze. “In fact, it’s our duty as wizards to help where and when we can. If you have a problem with that, Mickey, then you haven’t learned anything from me during your apprenticeship.”

“I’m sorry, Aries,” Mickey blurts out, whirling around to face his partner. “It’s just that Tav is— I mean, I can’t—” Frustrated, Mickey throws his hands up in the air and scowls. “I don’t want him to get hurt.”

“And I’m sure you couldn’t possibly have found a better way to say that,” Aries says in a light tone. He pushes past Mickey and starts to head toward the receiving room in the back. A thin sliver of candlelight slices across the main storeroom from the cracked open door —not enough to see by, but more than enough for Aries to know that he needs to blow the candle out before he trudges down to his lab for the night. “I thought you had more faith in Tavares than that.”

Unspoken goes the thought that Mickey should have more faith in the both of them.

Aries ignores Mickey’s offended complaints and pushes open the door just wide enough for him to see inside without letting Mickey get a good view at the room.

What he sees inside makes him smile.

The rug on the receiving room floor is a complete mess. The room smells like sex and looks as though a war has been fought inside. And the centerpiece of it all is Tavares and where he has his arms wrapped around the body of a sleeping demon.

It doesn’t take Aries any time at all to put the pieces together and he smiles as he takes in the sight of the two incubi curled up together on the remains of what was once a rather expensive rug. He uses his magic to put the candles out and then takes a step backwards, pulling the door in with him before Mickey can come up behind him and see the scene within. He wards the door for good measure, locking it against Mickey’s magic just in case, and then turns away in the direction of the basement laboratory.

“What’s going on? Aries?”

Aries shakes his head and laughs a little. He can’t stop thinking about the way Tavares had looked with his arm slung around the little demon’s waist as though he’d fight to keep him safe. It’s… cute. And it’s absolutely something that Mickey —with his insecurities about their recent relationship and his place in their home— doesn’t need to see in the slightest.

“Tavares has company over,” Aries says with steel in his voice that makes Mickey’s spine snap to attention. “Try not to wake them up when you close up the shop. If you can’t manage that, then I suggest you stay upstairs until Tavares takes his new friend back home.”

Mickey opens and closes his mouth with a snapping noise. He glances back and forth between Aries and the locked door of the receiving room and then growls.

“This isn’t fair,” he says. “Are you really supporting this? He’s with one of Sasha’s pet demons isn’t he? You can’t just stand there knowing what’s going to happen next.” Mickey growls. “Do you really think a _whore_  is someone you should be trusting with Tavares? You know how he falls for people so easily even at his age.”

Aries sighs and shakes his head, too disappointed to even make himself _look_  at Mickey.

“I’m not even going to dignify that with an answer, Mickey,” he says as he starts to walk toward the door that leads to his basement laboratory. “When you’re able to understand why what you’re saying about this is so terrible, come and find me.”

The wards fly open on the laboratory door and Aries steps forward onto the threshold. He looks back once at where Mickey is still standing in front of the receiving room with a frustrated look on his face. “If you make either one of them feel bad about this when you see them, we will be having words.”

As the door swings shut behind Aries, he hears the faint thudding sound of Mickey kicking something else in the store. He feels his age at that, worn and weary with the fact that he has to explain everything to Mickey at this stage in their relationship. Even things that shouldn’t warrant an explanation.

“Oh, Mickey,” Aries says in a soft voice, whispering even though Mickey can’t possibly hear him through the wards. Hopefully, Mickey will be more accepting come morning.


End file.
